Civilizing Me

by John Pasden

25 Apr 2009

Earlier this week I set out for work one morning only to discover that my bike was missing. It wasn’t where I parked it in my apartment complex, and it wasn’t anywhere nearby. I was surprised that a bike as uncool as mine, with both wheels locked, would be stolen from my apartment complex, but these things happen every day. I walked to work.

That night I decided to look for my missing bike a little more. The thing is, I had parked in an area I’m not technically supposed to park in. There’s a sign on the wall that says “don’t park here please,” but after seeing other bikes parked there on a daily basis for months on end, I decided to join them. It’s a more convenient parking place. (The proper place is underground, requiring use of the stairs.)

So I didn’t want to ask the guards, because that would mean admitting that I parked in the wrong place. I went to the nearest underground parking section, and sure enough, there was my bike. It had this note attached:

Transcript:

> 文明小区靠大家谢谢您的配合与支持

Translation:

> A civilized community depends on everyone.Thank you for your cooperationand support.

I had thought my bike was stolen all day, and I don’t appreciate that. But I’m really glad to see the rules being enforced a bit more. All around me, I see rules ignored on a daily basis: traffic lights, various kinds of queues, no smoking policies, etc. It’s good to feel a little progress. I’m happy to be civilized.

I couldn’t agree more; progress in this direction is great. It’s still amazing, however, to see the irregularities in law enforcement in China. The smallest issue will attract great attention and expenditure of effort while a clearly more significant problem will be completely ignored (well, I guess that makes the problem not so significant). Anyway, I just finished writing a two-part entry on my blog that illustrates a pretty humorous example of this challenge. You might be interested:The link.